Diamond Ring Effect
by Kitt Chaos
Summary: AU. Puzzleshipping. Yami Yugi, though he didn't remember his own past, realized he was an entity completely different and apart from his host, Yugi. Closer to Yugi than Yugi's own heartbeat, how long could he deny his yearning for Yugi's love?


Gift-fic for Lucidscreamer. Disclaimer: Yu-Gi-Oh! and all its characters, are the legal and intellectual property of Kazuki Takahashi and any entities he has granted legal rights to. I claim no rights at all with my story. I greatly admire and feel gratitude to Mr. Takahashi for the amazing story and characters of Yu-Gi-Oh!

**Diamond Ring Effect**

The stone chilled his burning soul. How many times had he relied upon this effect? How many times had he retreated here, not to get away from the young one... No, wait, it_ was _to get away from him, but not out of a sense of disgust, or horror, or disliking, rather much the opposite he admitted.

Yugi had no idea how he immolated his partner. His gentle warmth, so obvious, so present in his friends' lives, so universal that even one such as Kaiba could sense its soft glow -- if only that stubborn jackass would ever let himself see -- here, sharing the mystic space within Yugi's soul, the very well-spring of that blaze... he found it hard to resist. Yugi's warmth drew him to submerge himself in that fire. But...

'Millennia' -- a weighty, impressive word. A thousand years, grouped together into one millennium, and then, multiples of that, striving to make the march of years he endured seem accessible, as if human minds could ever master the understanding of just how _much_ time it is... time -- eternal minutes, hours, days, _years_ of time spent in isolated loneliness -- slowly forgetting his past, inevitably forgetting himself, yearning for a warmth such as Yugi's... It was as if the warmth of his human spirit went out -- drained from him by the thousands of years he spent here, chilled by the loneliness of these very stones.

Or, did he never have such a warmth? Perhaps he was always so cold. He wondered why he did this to himself. Why had he been trapped in the Puzzle until Yugi solved it? He could tell, it was not through another's agency that he was sealed away. Somehow, he knew he would never have permitted another to do that to him, therefore, he reasoned, it was something he did to himself. Why? Was he once something so evil, so cold, that in a moment of self-aware clarity, in a moment of honest, human regret, he decided to spare others from his cold and evil touch?

He shied from that thought. Perhaps he thought to safeguard others from some _other_ evil. Perhaps he sacrificed his own warmth -- his own humanity -- for a good and noble purpose. Was it arrogant of him to think so? Perhaps -- but, if he had been evil, would he now be so willing to simply delight in Yugi's warmth? If he had been evil, would he not instead wish to seize it, master it, and claim it for his own?

Millennial dust settled in cold drifts of loneliness in the chill chambers of his heart and the frozen labyrinth of his soul. After wishing to be free from it for so long, he found it ironic that he now welcomed this gelid touch. After thousands of years existing in this state, enduring this cold loneliness, had he truly lost his ability to be warm? Why else was he compelled to run from the young one whenever Yugi's warmth chanced to be directed his way? Why did he always retreat here, to the dim and bleak throne room where loneliness became the crown that weighed down his brow and regal solitude seeped inexorably into his soul?

Could he yet be rekindled? Was such a thing possible? Could the blaze of Yugi's incredible love yet find some tinder of humanity remaining to spark even a tiny fire in his frozen soul, again? Or, was he now one who would perish if he were to give up his cold shroud of isolation to let himself bask in that warmth?

He tried to make himself believe all this; that he was cold, that the warmth in him had gone out, entirely, because, if he didn't... If he didn't flee, if he didn't use this cold loneliness he dimly recalled cursing with every fiber of his being, if he didn't chill his heart and soul again... Even once, if he forgot, and responded to Yugi's warmth, even once...

_You have no idea... You ravish me with every kind word, every gesture of consideration. Can one become drunk on fire? I long to return to your presence, to revel in your ability to love so warm that it could burn me like the heart-fire of the sun itself, but..._

Wouldn't it terrify Yugi to find such an ardor within him? Yugi had done so much for him already, how could he dare to want more? Surely it would be better if he acted as before; the strange, unwelcome partner in Yugi's soul, willing to offer help whenever dark forces rise -- the dark forces that seemed to be attracted to him, or perhaps the person he used to be. It was not right for him to wish for even more from Yugi.

Now, just like before -- whenever his desire to respond to Yugi became too much... Whenever the fire of his vain love started to spark too high... He retreated here. The millennium-old prison of cold walls served as his refuge. The now-welcome chill of loneliness seeped into his soul cooling his ardor down again, freezing it away so that he wouldn't trouble his partner -- at least not any more than he troubled him already.

It was best this way.

He had taken so much from Yugi already.

_Only I..._

_Only I should have to -- accept any pain..._

He had to deny himself... he had to resist Yugi's warmth... To take that from Yugi, even once, would intoxicate him beyond all ability to resist...

_Why?! Why must doing the right thing always bring so much pain? _He closed his eyes. His head, so heavy a burden, slumped against the chill stones of the throne in the splendid room of his isolation -- the tomb marking the place he first froze his soul with the burning cold of lonelyfire. His heart cried against this suicide, the one he forced on himself whenever his spirit ventured too close to waking from the frozen coma of his static, lonely millennia. _It is not right -- to take even more... I must protect, the warmth, and light, in Yugi..._

_from me..._

_from all that is selfish..._

_in me..._

"Yami?"

Why was Yugi here?! Disaster loomed. He always had to admit, to himself, even if only for a moment, that he loved Yugi, in order to freeze that very love safely away again... But, it was too soon, Yugi couldn't be here, _now_. Not now... He wasn't ready, to be...

_cold..._

_again..._

"Yami? It's -- cold, in here. Dark, too. Why not come with me to the other side?" What impulse guided Yugi to kneel and hug him? He damned that impulse. But, he found the arms around him to be -- so warm. Yugi's heart, so gentle, so fierce, so _warm_...

Yugi stood up and looked down at him.

Quiet intensity lit Yugi's eyes, even as a gentle glow bathed his face. Yami wondered where that light came from. It was always so dark here, in his lonely tomb...

He suddenly realized the light was shining--

--from within _him_.

Yugi reached a hand down to help him up. "I know it's selfish of me," Yugi began. "But, I really like your company. I get kinda -- lonely -- when you're not around. So, Yami, please...?"

Yami laughed as he stood. It amused him that Yugi thought _he_ was the selfish one.

"Yugi, I..."

"I know." Yugi's eyes, no less beautiful, were serious, now. As Yami looked into them, he started to reel. Yugi _did_ know.

"Don't..." Yugi said softly. "Don't close me off, again. Don't freeze your feelings away. I know that's what you do. So -- don't. I'm selfish, because -- I want them. I want to share them -- with you." Yugi looked up and locked his earnest gaze on Yami's eyes. Open, caring, warm, vulnerable -- a final, single word confirmed all that Yami read in Yugi's eyes. "Please?"

Yami couldn't resist. Bolstered with all the strength in the world, Yami ruefully admitted he would still be unable to resist _that _look, Yugi's eyes -- or his morning-bright heart.

_Oh, Yugi, whatever I am, whatever I used to be, you have enraptured me, trapping me in your love as thoroughly as I had been trapped in the Millennium Puzzle!_

Still, as he took Yugi's hand and twined their fingers together, he admitted it was a trap he didn't ever want to be freed from. A great burst of light startled them. Instinctively, they closed their arms around each other, seeking to protect the other from whatever threat was heralded by the light. After only a moment, they were able to open their eyes.

Each gasped. Where Yami's soul room had always been shadowed, now it was resplendent. The walls gleamed softly, gentle light from within illuminating the writing that covered them. The walls seemed to tell the story of a young man's life. Who else's could it be but Yami's?

As he stared in wonder at the transformed soul room, Yami realized something profound. By permitting himself to admit that he loved Yugi, his heart was no longer able to hide in cold shadows. If his heart could no longer hide, it seemed his memory could not remain hidden from him, either.

"Yami...?" Yugi's voice quavered uncertainly.

"Yes?"

"What--what happened?"

A cocky smile touched Yami's lips. "It's entirely your fault, aibou."

"What?!"

"Your bright and shining love -- I'm completely powerless to resist..." Yami rasped, tightening his hold as he leaned down toward Yugi even though he could sense there would never be danger for his partner in his soul-room, ever again.

Yugi's lips were soft beneath his. He felt as Yugi's lips curved up in a smile before their kiss deepened. Yami's heart filled with light. After a moment, his mind did, too.

"It makes sense, doesn't it?" Yugi asked from within the circle of Yami's arms once they eased back from their first kiss. "When else do we truly become ourselves than when we love another?"

"I hope, once we discover the true me, that I'll still have your love, Yugi."

"No worries. I couldn't stop loving you if I tried!"

"Why--why would you want to?!"

"It's an expression, Yami. Just an expression."

"It's a stupid expression," Yami muttered.

"Hmm." Yugi smiled impishly. "I've got another expression for you, Yami. I think you might like it."

Yami grumbled, but he didn't mean it. Yugi deliberately captured Yami's gaze with his bright and shining eyes. "I love you with my whole heart."

"As do I, Yugi. My heart is yours."

-end-

Author's note: I couldn't quite close the loop by including the inspiration for this short piece in the story itself, which would explain the odd title.

(adapted from the article on Wikipedia's site) -- _The diamond ring effect occurs during total solar eclipses. Just before the sun disappears or just after it emerges from behind the moon, beads of sunlight shine through the rough landscape of the lunar surface. This effect is called Baily's beads, in honor of Francis Baily who first noted the phenomenon in 1836. The diamond ring effect is seen when only one bead is left, a shining diamond set in a bright ring around the lunar silhouette__._ (really pretty picture of the effect on Wiki!)

And, of course, a diamond ring _is_ the most common hallmark of an engagement. ::ebilgrin::

Moral of the story? When one loves a self-chastising and reluctant sun-god, even the first declaration of love is destined to be spectacular!


End file.
